2014-11-09

When Apple and Google unveiled
new encryption schemes last month,
law enforcement officials complained that
they wouldn't be able to unlock evidence
on criminals’ digital devices.
What they didn't say is that there are
already methods to bypass encryption,
thanks to off-the-shelf digital implants
readily available to the smallest national agencies
and the largest city police forces
— easy-to-use software that takes over and monitors
digital devices in real time.
First Look Media are publishing in full, for the first time,
manuals explaining the prominent commercial implant software
“Remote Control System,” manufactured by
the Italian company Hacking Team.

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory
based at the Munk School of Global Affairs,
University of Toronto, Canada
focusing on advanced research and development
at the intersection of ICTs, human rights, and global security
(Information and Communication Technologies)Our Mission
We undertake research that monitors, analyzes,
and impacts the exercise of political power in cyberspace.
The Citizen Lab accomplishes these goals through
collaborative partnerships with leading edge research centres
and individuals around the world
and through a mixed methods approach that combines
technical reconnaissance, field investigations,
and data mining, analysis, and visualization.Our Research Network
The Citizen Lab’s ongoing research network includes
the Cyber Stewards Network, OpenNet Initiative,
OpenNet Eurasia, Opennet.Asia.
The Citizen Lab was a founding partner of the
Information Warfare Monitor (2002-2012).
The Citizen Lab developed the original design of
Psiphon, a censorship circumvention software,
which was spun out of the lab in 2008
into a private Canadian corporation (Psiphon Inc.) .

Our short-term mission is to provide a platform to report on
the documents previously provided by
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Although we are still building our
infrastructure and larger vision,
we are launching now because we believe we have
a vital obligation to this ongoing and evolving story,
to these documents, and to the public.
Our NSA coverage will be comprehensive,
innovative and multi-faceted.
Our long-term mission is to produce
fearless, adversarial journalism across a wide range of issues.